This blogger fortunate enough to experience the 16-course lunch tasting at David Cheng's much discussed restaurant Momofuku Ko breaks down the feast. This hot spot will begin serving prix fixe lunch ($150) Friday through Sunday starting this month. Reservations are only available online, but despite its seemingly transparent egalitarian reservation system, be prepared to be denied, denied, and denied. Even Kanye would have difficult time grabbing a coveted seat here.
Amuse - Pomme souffle with creme fraiche and hackleback caviar - Corn tuile with tomato jam, pork rillette, and grilled corn
Course #1 Island Creek Oyster (Duxbury, MA) with lime segment and hackleback caviar
#2 Kampachi (raw) with grapefruit miso sauce and daikon radish sprouts
#3 Long Island fluke (raw) with gochujang (Korean fermented chili paste)
#4 Diver scallops (raw, cut in strips) tossed with various citrus juices, shiso, watermelon radish, roasted white peppers, and kaffir lime zest
(Courses 1-4 will be served in a custom-designed bamboo box filled with shaved ice; haven't arrived yet)
#5 Lobster salad with mini melon balls, tomato water, basil oil, and pickled cucumbers (and mildly sweet gelee of some sorts which I missed)
#6 Painted Hills beef carpaccio with grilled baby leek, horseradish creme fraiche, grated horseradish, and baby sorrel served with a "Butter Bomb," a mini roll stuffed then baked with butter
#7 Fresh yuba with heirloom cherry tomato salad (one tomato was frozen) and toasted black rice
#8 Bacon dashi with bacon fat poached shrimp, fava, raw chanterelles, and tonburi
#9 Deep fried egg with cherry gastrique, cherry peppers, and baby kale
#10 Steamed striped bass atop an egg drop soup dumpling with raw, shaved lobster mushrooms, bok choy, and toasted kasha
#11 Buckwheat tortellini stuffed with eggplant puree, grilled baby eggplant, Korean black garlic, long beans, house made pork and miso sausage
#12 Shaved foie with pine nut brittle and lychee-Riesling gelee
#13 Elysian Fields Farm rack of lamb with watermelon, feta cheese puree, and black olive
#14 Cheese Course: Blackberry Farm's Singing Brook sheep's milk cheese with sweet and sour shallots and Humboldt Fog with smoked cantaloupe, served with pork fat brioche
#15 White Peach ice cream with milk crumbs and cinnamon streusel
#16 Corn parfait with chocolate, sour cream ice cream, and dehydrated corn kernels
Oh, in case you were wondering: My buffalo chicken pizza was AMAZING tonight. I had to like, TOTALLY, wait for 2 minutes while a couple people were ahead of me, but it was SO worth it.